Grandson graduates and receives his commission next spring. Recently got branched FA. He requested Infantry, like his father and grandfather. (His other grandfather was FA) As cadet Bn. Cdr, I expected him to be get his request, but he seems OK with FA. Wants to go to one of the Ranger bats as FO, after Ranger school, then try to branch transfer to 18, after a few years.

My info is a little dated, since I left Sill in 2015 and the FA training brigade in 2013, but we had constant issues getting Ranger slots for all the LTs that thought this was their path.

Don't let him be surprised if he can't get a Ranger School slot direct from FABOLC, and has to go to his unit to get one- the FA battalions I stay in contact with, admittedly heavily weighted toward light and Airborne battalions, seem to get a fair few officers into Ranger School,from their units. Im sure this is at least somewhat dependent on the priority of the battalion, BCT, and division commanders.

There are a couple of threads about getting hired in the 75th as an officer- what I've seen with peers and subordinates is that having a recommendation from a leader with experience in the argument is helpful, and performance as a rifle company FSO is critical, preferably in an infantry or Airborne BCT.

If he wants to go the USMC route; pm me. The job has its good side and bad just like any other.
Good opportunities to do some non-standard things if he demonstrates a decent level of competency early on.
Also, it's an "easy" way into the MARSOC community after his first enlistment. If thats something he's interested in.

Just to clarify; he can enlist as an 0861 right out of the gate. That can be signed and guaranteed at the recruiter level. He'll head to Ft. Sill after MCT for the first half of his training. Second half will be in Coronado.
If he rock's out of either one, the usual result is a seat back at Sill in the 0811/gun rock school.

TACP/JTAC is now part of the 0861 MOS career pipeline. However, guys usually wont attend until their second enlistment(E5-E6). We do get some E-4's through the course but its rare. There was an E-3 graduate of TACP a few years ago but I haven't heard of one since.

0861 can be a great gig if everything works out. Some of those guys also got rode hard and put away wet with the constant demand for deploying JTACs. That said, if he establishes a solid reputation as a young 0861 whether in an arty regiment or at ANGLICO, he'll likely get a shot at TACP school like EShepp said. There are some good options after that, to include going over to MARSOC as a Special Operations Capabilities Specialist (SOCS). There are some 0861s serving in external billets with other SOF entities as well, but first he needs to start with being a rock-solid fire supporter and getting a TACP seat before he starts worrying too much about trying to cross over to SOF, whether at MARSOC or elsewhere. Quite a few of the 61s I served with at ANGLICO went on to SOCOM later.

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"This is how it is when the war machine rolls back and forth. You take your pleasure where you can and when you can, and let the circumstances be damned. For tomorrow you may be somewhere else." - Cass

"I understand all of the words you used, but I don't know what you just said." - Gen. Hagee speaking to the MEU S-3